Machine for applying pressure to shoe parts



Feb. 25, 1941. J. M. WHELTON MACHINE FOR APPLYING PRESSURE TO SHOE PARTS 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed 001:. 25, 1939 I/A/VE/VTUEL FeB. 25, 1941. J. M. WHELTON 2,232,748

MACHINE FOR APPLYING PRESSURE TO SHOE PARTS Filed Oct. 25, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 25 1941 UNITED STATES MACHINE FOR APPLYING PRESSURE T SHOE PARTS John M. Whelton, Peabody, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. J.

Application October 25, 1939, Serial No. 301,265

11 Claims.

. This invention relates to machines for applying pressure to shoe parts and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine for pressing together a welt and an upper which have been coated with cement.

The illustrated machine is intended particularly for assembling the welt and upper of a pre-welt shoe of .the type illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,119,801, granted June 7, 1938, on an application of W. C. Vizard. This shoe is provided with a special welt having the usual outsole .attaching extension, the margin of the welt opposite its outsole attaching extension being divided into three flaps, between .two of which .the margin of the upper is secured while the third flap is lasted to an insole. In assembling the upper and welt cement is applied to the flesh surface of the margin of the upper and to the intermediate flap of the welt and the margin of the upper is then pressed against the cemented flap of the welt to secure the welt and upper together, and thereafter the grain flap of the welt is laid against the grain face of the upper and the upper is secured between the two flaps of the Welt by sewn seams.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine which is particularly adapted to press the upper against the intermediate flap of the welt in the manufacture of the shoe above described, It should be understood, however, that the utility of the illustrated machine is not limited to this particular operation. It is, of course, obvious that the machine could be utilized in other similar operations.

With the above object in View, the present invention provides a machine having a welt-engaging roll and a member herein illustrated as a plate constructed and arranged to turn back a flap of the welt and to gage the position of the upper relatively to the welt and the upper-engaging roll. The illustrated plate is positioned substantially midway between the edge faces .of a welt on the welt-engaging roll with its bottom edge adjacent to the root of the flap on which said plate operates.

In assembling the welt and upper of the shoe above described, it has been found desirable to cause the point of operation .of the illustrated machine to progress forwardly toward the extremity of the toe portion of the shoe along one side of the toe portion of the upper and then in the same direction along the opposite side in order that any tendency of the rolls of the illustrated machine to increase the length of the bottom margin of the upper will not cause anyserious distortion or dislocation of the toe portion of the upper. It has been found that the most convenient way to accomplish this result is to begin the pressing operation on one side of the shoe and work forwardly to the extremity of the 5 toe portion of the upper, then to reverse the di-. rection of feed of the machine and work about the entire periphery of the upper. In order to adapt the illustrated machine to feed the work either forwardly or rearwardly, the member which 10 turns back the flap of the welt, in accordance with a further feature of'the invention, is extended both forwardly and rearwardly in the direction of feed to enable it to operate efiectively whichever way the work is fed. For guid- -l5 ing the welt the illustrated machine is provided with a welt-engaging roll having a flange for guiding engagement with one edge of the welt and an edge gage constructed and arranged to act against the other edge face ofthe welt, said edge gage having an extension against which the operator guides the welt as it approaches the operating point. In order to facilitate the feed of the welt to the machine in either direction, the illustrated edge gage is extended both forwardly and rearwardly in the direction of feed.

These and other features of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and. pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating one end of the machine, one of the work engaging parts of the machine being broken away to leave another part exposed; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view illustrating in elevation the adjacent portions of the work engaging parts together with a portion of the work, one of said parts and the work being shown in section.

Referring to Fig. 1 the illustrated machine comprises a frame H] on which there is .pivotally mounted at H for vertical swinging movement a lever M. A shaft 16 journaled in the frame Ill has secured to one end a roll l8 which, as illustrated in Fig. 3,1 acts against a welt such, for example, as the welt 20 illustrated therein. The illustrated welt is splitlongitudinally along a plane parallel to the grain face of the welt to provide a grainflap 2.2 which is approximately half as wide as the welt. J ournaled in the lever M is a shaft 24 to one end of which there is secured an upper engaging roll 2 6 the worken- 55 gaging surface of which is somewhat less than half as wide as the work engaging surface of the welt engaging roll I8. The roll 26 is arranged to register with that portion of the work engaging surface of the welt engaging roll between the center of that surface and its outer extremity. Referring to Fig. 3 the roll 26 acts against the bottom margin of a shoe upper, for example the upper 28, the bottom margin of which is illustrated in Fig. 3. The roll 26 presses the margin of the upper against an intermediate flap 33 of the welt 2B, cement having previously been applied to said parts for initially securing them together. The roll 26 is pressed against the bottom margin of the upper margin 28 by the expansion of a heavy spring 32 (Fig. 1) surrounding a rod 34 and confined between an abutment member 36 threaded on the lower portion of the rod and the bottom surface of the frame I0. The rod 34 acts on a link 38 extending upwardly from the rod to the lever I4. For driving the rolls I8 and 26 to feed the work between them there is journaled in the frame I0 a counter shaft 50 which operates the shafts I6 and 24 through suitable gears 4|, 43, and secured respectively to the shafts 48, I6, and 24. The counter shaft 40 extends outwardly fro-m the frame I0 and has two pulleys 42 and 44 secured thereto. These pulleys are connected respectively by a straight belt and a crossed belt wit-h pulleys (not shown) loosely mounted on a driving shaft (not shown) to which they may be alternatively operatively connected by a suitable clutch. It will be understood that this mechanism enables the operator to cause the Work to be fed either forwardly or backwardly.

For turning the grain flap 22 of the welt upwardly into the position illustrated in Fig. 3, a guide member or plate 46 is secured to the lever I4 and has its work engaging portion arranged adjacent to the upper engaging roll 26. The illustrated guide member 46 comprises a plate which is secured to the front face of the lever I4 'by headed screws 48 (Fig. 2) and has its lower portion bent at right angles to the upper portion of the plate into parallel relation to the upper engaging roll 26. The bottom edge of the plate has a curvature concentric to the curvature of the welt engaging roll I8 and the work engaging portion of the plate has forward and rearward extensions or ears 50 which operate to turn the grain flap 42 upwardly awayfromthe intermediate flap 3!] and into the position illustrated in Fig. 3 as the work is fed past the guide Plate. It will be understood that the guide plate is provided with both forward and rear-ward extensions in order to accommodate both forward and rearward feeding of the work. As herein illustrated, the guide plate not only turns the grain flap of the welt upwardly away from the intermediate flap but also, as illustrated in Fig. 3, serves as an edge gage for the upper, positioning the bottom margin of the upper relatively to the upper-engaging roll and the welt.

For guiding the welt 20 and positioning it widthwise thereof the welt engaging roll I8 is provided with a flange 52 (Fig. 3) which engages the edge face of the flesh flap 54 of the welt and a gage member 56 is arranged to engage the 0pposite edge face of the welt. Referring to Fig. 2 the gage member 53 comprises a bar having a horizontal central portion the bottom of which has a curvature concentric to the curvature of the roll I8 and is positioned close to the surface of the roll, the outer portions of the bar extending divergently downwardly and affording means for guiding the welt as it approaches the operating point. The gage member 56 is secured to the frame II] by headed screws 58 extending through horizontal slots 6B provided in a shank portion 62 of the gage member, said slots affording adjustment of the gage member for different widths of welting.

For swinging the lever I4 upwardly to admit the work between the rolls a lever 66 (Fig. 1) is pivoted at 68 to the front face of the frame It) and arranged to engage a forward extension III of the lower portion of the link 33. The lever 66 is operated by a treadle (not shown) to which it is connected by a link I2.

In the operation of the machine the work engaging rolls are separated by operating the lever 66 whereupon the welt is positioned on the roll I8 as shown in Fig. 3, the grain flap 22 having been manually turned upwardly in order that the guide plate 46 may engage the flesh surface of said flap, as shown in Fig. 3. The operator then places the upper on the welt with its grain face uppermost, positioning the bottom edge of the upper against the plate 46 at the root of the grain flap 22. The lever 66 is then released permitting the spring 32 to swing the lever I4 downwardly and press the roll 26 against the margin of the upper. The operator then starts the machine and the rolls turn in opposite directions to feed the work between them. Preferably the pressing operation commences at a point on the margin of the upper in the region of the forward extremity of the counter portion of the upper at one side thereof and progresses toward the toe end of the shoe to the center of the toe end of the upper at which point the operation of the machine is reversed and the pressing operation continues in the opposite direction along the margin already operated upon and continues beyond the a point of beginning and about the entire periphery of the upper. It will be seen that in so operating the machine the point of operation does not progress continuously about the toe end of the upper but progresses forwardly to the center of the toe end of the upper from one side and thereafter progresses forwardly to the center of the toe end of the upper from the opposite side and consequently any tendency of the rolls to increase the length of the bottom margin of the upper will not cause any serious distortion or dislocation of the toe portion of the upper.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new anddesireto secureby LettersPatent of the United States is:

1. In a machine for pressing together a well: and a shoe upper, a welt-engaging roll, an upper-engaging roll, and a memberconstructed and arranged to turn back a flap of the welt and to gage the position ofthe upper relatively to the welt and the upper engaging roll at the operati oint.

2. In a machine for pressing together awelt and a shoe upper, a welt-supporting roll, an upper-engaging roll, and a plate a work-engaging lever and arranged to turn back a flap of the welt and to gage the position of the upper relatively to the welt and the upper-engaging roll.

4. In a machine for pressing together a welt and a shoe upper, a welt-supporting roll, an upper-engaging roll, a lever which moves the upper-engaging roll toward and from the welt-supporting roll, a plate fixed to said lever, said plate when the upper-engaging roll is in operative position being located substantially midway between the edge faces of a welt on the welt-supporting roll, said plate being constructed and arranged to turn back a flap of the welt and to gage the position of the upper relatively to the welt and the upper-engaging roll.

5. In a machine for pressing together a welt and a shoe upper, a welt-engaging roll, an upper-engaging roll, a gage member for turning back a flap of a split welt on said welt-engaging roll and for gaging the position of an upper relatively to the welt at the operating point, said gage member in its operative position being located with its extremity adjacent to the root of said flap.

6. In a machine for pressing a shoe upper against an intermediate surface of split welt, a welt-engaging roll, an upper-engaging roll, and a fixed guide member for positioning a flap of the welt away from the operating point, said guide member being extended both forwardly and rearwardly in the direction of feed, said eX- tensions being constructed and arranged to turn back said flap as the welt approaches the operating point whether the work is fed forwardly r rearwardly.

7. In a machine for pressing together a welt and a shoe upper, the combination with means for pressing an upper against a welt of a weltengaging roll, a flange on said r011 constructed and arranged for guiding engagement with one edge face of the welt and an edge gage constructed and arranged to act against the other edge face of the welt, said edge gage having an extension for guiding the welt as it approaches the operating point.

8. In a machine for pressing together a welt and a shoe upper. the combination with means for pressing an upper against a welt of a weltengaging roll, a flange on said roll constructed and arranged for guiding engagement with one edge face of the welt and an edge gage constructed and arranged to act against the other edge face of the welt, said edge gage being extended both forwardly and rearwardly in the direction of feed to enablethe operator to guide the work as it approaches the operating point whether the work is fed forwardly or rearwardly.

9. In a machine for pressing together a welt and a shoe upper, the combination with means for pressing an upper against a welt of a weltengaging roll, a flange on said roll constructed and arranged for guiding engagement with one edge face of the welt and an edge gage constructed and arranged to act against the other edge face of the welt, said edge gage being extended both forwardly and rearwardly in the direction of feed to enable the operator to guide the work as it approaches the operating point whether the work is fed forwardly or rearwardly, and a member constructed and arranged to turn back a flap of the welt, said member being extended both forwardly and rearwardly in the direction of feed to enable it to operate effectively Whether the work is fed forwardly or rearwardly.

10. In a machine for pressing together a Welt and a shoe upper, a welt-engaging roll, a flange on said roll constructed and arranged for guiding engagement with one edge face of a welt, an edge gage constructed and arranged to act against the other edge face of the welt, an upperengaging roll movable relatively to the welt-engaging roll to press the work between them, and means for turning back a flap of the felt'to permit the rolls to press the upper against an intermediate surface of the welt.

11. In a machine for pressing a shoe upper against an intermediate surface of a split welt, a welt-engaging roll, a flange on said roll constructed and arranged for guiding engagement with one edge face of a welt, an edge gage constructed and arranged to act against the other edge face of the welt, and a fixed guide member for positioning a flap of the welt away from the operating point, said edge gage and said guide member both being extended in a direction opposite to the direction of the feed to act on the work as it approaches the operating point.

JOHN M. WI-IELTON. 

